Method of making hollow objects, conduits, &amp;c.



PATENTED SEPT. 4, 1906.

J. M. BOYLE. METHOD OF MAKING HOLLOW OBJECTS, GONDUITS, 6:0.

- INVENTOR J1me; 771,50 /e APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21, 1905.

WITNESSES."

ATTOR/VEY5.

, UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEmE.

JAMES M, BOYLE, on NEW YORK, N. r nssienoe OF ONE-HALF TO F. w. ROLLER,or NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF MAKING HOLLOW OBJECTS,'CONDUITS, 800- Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Sept. 4, 1906.

Application filed September 21, 1905. Serial No. 279.389.

To all whom it may concern: i Be it known that I, JAMES M. BOYLE, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the countyof New York and State of New York, (whose posto1lice address is 203Broadway,) have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Methodsof Making Hollow 0 jects, Conduits, &c., of which the following is aspecification.

The invention relates to the manufacture of hollow objects, such aspipes, tubes, or conduits or posts, columns, or cylinders having aninternal bore.

The principal of the invention depends upon the capability of theinflated distensible body of flexible material to serve as a core orinner mold for a plastic material which is applied to the exteriorthereof and allowed to iardcn, the fluid- )ressure in the mold beingafterward release The invention consists in the methods of making hollowobjects or, specifically, continuous conduits or of continuously makingseparate conduits, all as more particularly set forth in the followingspecification, and pointed out in the claims.

The object of the invention is, among other things, to remove certainobjections incident to the present constructions and methods of laying,and more'particularly to avoid the. presence of joints at frequentintervals, such as are found in conduits builtup from short sections ofpreviously-manufactured tile or.

earthenware or other duct laid end to end in a trough or trench, toeliminate the necessity for using manholes, junction-boxes, or shortjunction-sections where there is a sudden change of directionas, forinstance, where there is a sudden large change of gradeand to secureother advantages in the completed or laid conduit, which will beapparent to those skilled in the art.

While my invention is applicable to conduits laid under ground or underwater; it is also useful-in the making and laying or installing ofconduits in other 'situationsas, for instance, in building or otherstructures. In the following description, however, the invention will bedescribed in connection with the laying and making of an undergroundconduit.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a general side elevation anddiagrammatic view illustrating the method of using appapreventing ittrough, in this case dug in the earth, the surface of which is indicatedby the line 2.

3 indicates the flexible tube, which, in the best manner of carrying outmy invention, is also collapsible. said tube is -preferabl made,therefore, of some rather thin flexib e material, which is alsopreferably an insulatoras, for instance, rather thin tough paper, whichshould be as thin as practicable and which may be treated to give it alubricating-surl'ace on its interior or to renderi t waterproof. Whenmade ofcollapsible material, Said tube .may be compactly wound upon areel 4, mounted on a suitable portable stand 5, and may be paid out fromsaid reel through suitable compression devices, which will act as aclosure to prevent the air or other fluid 'under pressure in thepaid-out portion from 'Working back into the reeled portion of the tube.As a convenient means for maintaining such compression I show a ,air ofcomression-rolls 6, which may also e feed-rolls, or drawing the tube offthereel through the application of power applied to the feed-rolls froma crank 7, belted up to said rolls.

For the pu ose of distending the tube or om collapsing by the pressureof cement I prefer to employ air-pressure, which may be obtained from asuitable tank 8, located in' any convenient position and kept suppliedwith airfrom the pipe 9, joined to a proper compressor. From the tank 8theair is conveyed to the tube from a pipe 9,

furnished at its end with a, suitable plug or coupling 10, adapted toform an air-tight connection with theend of the tube 3, which bypreference is the end where the constru 0- tion is started. The cementforming the structore of the completed tube is indicated at 11. In theoperation of the apparatus and assuming that the construction is startedfrom the end 3 of the tube 3 there would be first provided, preferably,a bed of suitable material upon which the tube would be laid as it ispaid out from the reel 4. This bed may be a layer of cement of the samekind as the bed of cement which is subsequently filled around the tube,Any desired length v sure from the tank 8. After a predeterthe air orother distending fluid may be aldesired cement-11 is filled in or pouredin tained until the cement has set sufliciently to feel or rame 5 andthen moving the latter very large capacity or to substitute a full reelof tube 3 maybe laid by moving the portable reel to the requiredpositionand at the same time paying out the tube, and said tube may becarried around bends, corners, or curves, and, if desired, throughmanholes or other spaces where the continuity of the cement isinterrupted. During such operation the tube may or may not be distendedby presmined length of the tubev has been laid the around the same andermitted to harden, the internal pressure eing maintained at such timeto cause the tribe to be distended and serve as a mandrel er-core forforming the bore of the conduit. This pressure may bemaintained for agreater or less time, as desired, but in any case should be mainretainthe form given to it by the distention of the tube. When sufficientlyhardened,

lowed to escape from the interior of the flexible tube, thus leavin acompleted cement conduit with a single uct.

It is obvious that the conduit may be formed with as many ducts asrequired or desired by laying a number of paper tubes 3 beside oneanother andthat the eonduitmay be built up in tiers by finishing onelayer and subse uently laying thereon a row of tubes 3 for t e next tieror layer.

It is obvious that when the tube 3 is continued through space void ofcement the said tubes at such oints may be removed after the operationas been completed and separated conduits thus made.

It is also obvious that the conduit may be laid and completed section bysection by aying out the tube 3 to any desired length,

'shin the filling in of the cement up to the along to lay a furtherlength of tube 3 and then filling in the cement over the additional laidportion of tube 3..

Aswill be obvious, there is practically no limit to the length of cementtubing, practically continuous, which may be laid by this method, sinceit is possible to employ reels of for an exhausted one and to couple thetubes 3 together by proper cement adapted to unite the paper or othermaterial of which the tube 3 is composed. During the operation ofjoining the tubes 3 at such time the air may\ p0rtion of sai bepermitted to escape from the ,firstrlaid portion or tube by wlthdrawingthe couple or plug 10', at which time a suitable stop-cock 12 at thetank 8 should be shut. k

When the conduitis used for electric eables, is is sometimes desirableto provide for a breaking or tearin away of the paper lining by theabrasion ue to drawing-the cable throu h, which is liable to take placewhen the tu ing is made of thin paper, which is the preferred kind oftubing employed. In this case in order to insure a conduit-lining havingan extra hard or smooth surface to take the wear produced by pulling inand out cables I prefer to apply a preliminary coating of a specialcement having the desired quali ties to the tube before filling in thecement around the same. This lining layer is indicated in Fig. 3 by thenumeral 13. It may be applied by hand over the collapsible tube while indistended condition to form a uni-,

form layer over the same, after which the cement 11 may be applied. Thelatter takes its exterior form from the sides of the trough or trench inwhich the tube 3 is laid.

In the foregoing description and the following claims the term flexibletube is used to mean a tube which is capable of being bent aroundangles, curves, or corners, so that it may change (l1I'0Ct10n,W1l'/l1011l7 the use of elbows, segments, or other junction-pieces.

What I claim as my invention is 1 The method of making a hollow object,-which consists in first paying out a predetermined length of distensibleflexible tubing;

closing said tubin at the end of each length as it is successive paidout; inflating said lengths successive y and applying to each length inturn plastic material capable of hardening. 1

3. The method of making a continuous conduit, which consists in first,layinga flexible distensible tube in the line of the finished conduitand temporarily closing said tube at a distance from its end; second,inflating'the portion of said tube between said closure and .said end;third, applying a plastic material capable of hardenlng'by setting tosaid ortion of'said tube and allowing same to arden; fourth, temporarilyclosing saidtube at a'distance from said-first closure and releasing'said first;.closure to permit said'second the tobecome inflated; fifth,applying 1 portlon of said tube and so on continuously.

4. The method of making hollow objects, which consists in first placingin position a flexible distensible tube; second, inflating said tube;third, a )plying to a predetermined portion of sai tube a'plasticmaterial capable of hardening by sett1ng;'fourth, apply-in said materialto another redetermine portion of said tube distant rom said asticmaterial to said second first portion; and fifth, removing the uncoveredtube between said covered ortions.

5. The method of making anti lining a hollow object, which consists infirst placing in osition a flexible distensible tube of the seectedlining material closed at one end; second, inflating said tube; third, aplyin to said tube a plastic material capa e of ardening and permittingsame to harden; fourth, opening both ends of'said inclosed tube.

6. The method of making a hollow object, which consistsin first placingin position a flexible distensible tube closed at one end;

second, inflating said tube; third, applying to said tube a plasticmaterial capable of hardening to produce a smooth surface on the.interior of the cylinder and permitting same to harden; and fourth,coating said hardened material with additional lastic material toproduce a wall of desired t 'ckness. Signed at New York, in the countyof New York and State of New York, this 20th day of September, A. D.1905.

JAMES M. BOYLE. Witnesses:

H. C. TOWNSEND, O. F. TISCHNER, 'Jr.

